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Culture Theatre

Dating game

NOT GETTING IT by Anne Marie Scheffler, directed by Michael McGinn, with Scheffler, Adrian Churchill and Duff MacDonald. Presented by Not So Norma Productions at the Tim Sims Playhouse (56 Blue Jays Way). January 2-3 at 9 pm, Jan 4 at 10:30 pm. $15. 416-343-0011. Rating: NNN

Rating: NNN

there’s this 30-something single woman who has a libido that’s driving her crazy and no partner to share it with. Can she get off without giving in — giving in, that is, to all those potential partners who prove to be the wrong match?In Not Getting It, Ann Marie Scheffler plays out our society’s female riddle — how to balance her own sexual satisfaction and self-involved male saps and still win the golden ring. In a series of comic exchanges and tunes (sung by Duff MacDonald), Scheffler turns on her trademark charm and comic talents to press the question. Celibacy’s not the solution for her, nor is constant self-servicing. No, she’s a woman who dreams of Prince Charming and wants emotion along with orgasm, a relationship rather than a one-night stand.

Trying out a series of fantasy men (all played by Adrian Churchill), she figures out why she’s not getting it, and, just as importantly, the dating pattern she’s set up for herself. Churchill’s roles, which sometimes rely on a gruff and entertaining allure, touch the male viewers, while Scheffler gets more than a few knowing laughs from the women in the audience. Everyone appreciates the first-date scene, where Scheffler chooses clothes that say, “I want you to fuck me but respect me too much to do it.”

Singing bits of pop and show tunes, MacDonald gives a nice musical counterpoint to the action, creating an instant mood with his sometimes growling, sometimes honey-sweet voice. But ultimately it’s Scheffler who gets it here — the audience’s laughs and empathy, if not the sex.

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